Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

mardatha wrote: »

The ones we canny sort out are what the hell is a biscuit and what do Americans call paraffin.

I believe a biscuit is a "cookie", and paraffin is "kerosene".

monnagran

Ouch Lyn. It is complete and utter madness. The cynic in me wonders whose palm has been greased. I also wonder who is going to live in these houses. It's not so much houses that are needed as affordable housing.

And who is to say that the time won't come when the country will be crying out for more agricultural land. The present profligate use of fuel, flying everything in from all over the world, cannot go on for ever. Heaven help us if we are ever thrown back on our own resources again, there simply won't be any resources, just many hundreds of thousands of extra mouths to feed.
Still, at least I suppose they will all have a roof over their heads while they slowly starve to death.

Such shortsightedness is breathtaking.

x

[Deleted User]

cheel wrote: »

if worst came to the worst what would my option for heating be if the gas and electricity fail for some reason?

I have 15 TOG Duvet.

If all heating options were unavailable (my home has a gas fire and combi-boiler, but I also have a portable electric convection heater), I'd take refuge under the Duvet.

greenbee

milasavesmoney wrote: »

This is extremely surprising to me. I don't understand why your government would let foreign companies own something so crucial to your infrastructure. :undecided:huh::think: I'm just really astounded. I'm assuming they are owned by companies from EU members? Surely they must be?

British Gas is publicly owned, and registered on the London Stock Exchange so is technically still a UK company, but anyone can hold shares, they don't check your nationality.

Other utility companies have, in many cases, been bought up by government owned European (and other) utilities whose energy markets are not open like ours.

Bear in mind that you're not immune to this in North America. Direct Energy is owned by the parent company of British Gas... https://www.centrica.com/about-us/our-brands/direct-energy

[Deleted User]

I'm going to wait and actually see what happens if and when a planning application for that many homes goes in. The local authority planners surely couldn't just say yes without consulting the people who live here now, not with a build that will almost double the size of the village in one fell swoop. I totally agree MONNA that what we DO need is affordable housing so that the young people can stay in the village, at present there is NOTHING that could be vaguely described as starter homes and when tackled at the last consultation for the 200 house build they said they would put in houses in keeping with those already in the area so 4,5 and 6 bedroom jobbies but no affordable because it was already provided on the 600 so far build that's already going ahead, however they would be putting in up to 30% social housing which sounds like madness as how can social housing be 4,5 and 6 bedroomed?

I think this world is descending into unreality in all areas, has delusions and completely unrealistic visions of what is fair and just and right,and that compassion and reason are all but gone away. I think NUATHA really had better find a way to stop the world really soon, getting off might be the only sane option!!!

milasavesmoney

greenbee wrote: »

British Gas is publicly owned, and registered on the London Stock Exchange so is technically still a UK company, but anyone can hold shares, they don't check your nationality.

Other utility companies have, in many cases, been bought up by government owned European (and other) utilities whose energy markets are not open like ours.

Bear in mind that you're not immune to this in North America. Direct Energy is owned by the parent company of British Gas... https://www.centrica.com/about-us/our-brands/direct-energy

Thanks so much for pointing this out. I just think this could potentially be a really big problem if foreign ownership of something so basic to a nation is allowed. I have never thought about this before and did not know it was happening in the US.
Global ownership.... Crazy possibilities
I suppose it's less so if the company is on the open exchange and has a lot of different investors.

GreyQueen

VJsmum wrote: »

Interestingly, my experience is the exact opposite. Most people i know are remainers (including me) and it is the leavers who are throwing the insults around (known to me personally - not on here).

David Cameron was in my train carriage the other day :eek: I didn't notice for an hour and a half :rotfl:

Boy, would that be a dent in his ego if only he knew...........

The trouble with development is that it is done by developers who are only interested in making money and have no consideration of the consequences of said developments on the existing residents round about and also on the best needs of the population now and in coming decades.

Affordable housing is an oxymoron. Most housing should be affordable by people on regular incomes; you shouldn't have to fall in the upper percentages of population by income to have a modest roof over your head.

My hometown is growing thousands of more households because it is a reasonable commute from some areas where housing is very expensive but where there are jobs to be had. What this means is that it took my Dad the same amount of time to cross 3 miles of town as it did my friend, who was giving me a lift to the edge of the hometown, to travel 25 miles across the county on an A road. And it wasn't even rush hour. Un-flipping-believable and a new phenomenon in the last year or so.

Most people have very very little space to live already, and over-development is cramming more and more dwellings into areas which were once sites of factories etc. This mean that the infrastructure, especially the infrastructure for water supply and sewage, creaks under the strain. The roads are chocka, the streets are chocka, the air quality goes down, the stress levels go up..........

I genuinely think that a lot of UK people are feeling stressed and distressed by overcrowding and this is why immigration is such a hot button. It's not racism as most europeans are indistinguisable from the white british majority. It's issues about being crowded out of essential resources such as access to housing at an affordable price, to healthcare, to education for your children.

The political classes, both Tory and Labour, seem to be stone-deaf and blind to the very legitimate concerns that many brits have about such issues. It's as if they think anyone who raises concerns is some kind of little englander who doesn't like foriegners per se, or a loutish member of the far right who can't wait to stick the bovver boot into an ethnic minority person, and that it is the duty of all persons of education, taste and civility to silence the dissenters.

It is interesting that there are passionate and very public anti-Europeans on both the Tory and Labour sides whereas the party leadership of both are all for Remain. Even the trades unions, who you might expect to be pro-Brexit, given the consequences in driven-down pay caused by mass-migration, are pro-Europe. And some of the biggest of big businessmen are anti-EU.

Since parties are divided, persons who habitually vote on party lines, out of a tribal affiliation, are left without a pointer into how they might vote. I know people who are changing their minds several times a day. They're not space cadets, they're reacting to a constant stream of information (and misinformation). I genuinely think some people will be making their minds up in the moment that the pencil is hovering over their ballot paper.

It's going to be very very close result and there will be incredible rancour as a result. I do think it's one of the most interesting things I've watched in my life.

DawnW

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

we'll just have to wait and see what happens I guess, of course there will be many objections from the village but I doubt they will be heeded if the government whip is to build more houses. I just wish they'd put more thought into the lives of the people who are already living here and those who will come to fill the new builds. The last consultation I went to said when asked that yes they did put money into local infrastructure but they paid it to the local authority and it was up to that authority what they did with it. We can't get an appointment at the local doctors surgery within a month NOW I dread to think how bad it could get with perhaps 10,000 more houses so possibly 40,000 more patients all with the same needs as we have trying to access an already stressed NHS, education and Dental systems let alone the extra wear on roads that are already full of potholes and other damage. And still the government cuts payments to local authorities to fulfil their austerity vision, it's MADNESS!!!

Sounds just like our town, which has recently almost doubled in size due to the building of sprawling housing estates on the surrounding (what was till recently) farmland And it is still going on. Same issue with local surgeries too, it is rare to be able to get an appointment within a month.

thriftwizard

MrsLW, that's exactly what's happening here too. If all the houses on the local plan get built, it'll more than double the size of our little town, with no corresponding increase in road capacity (already at full stretch - we've been gridlocked for most of today as our famous Folk Festival's getting underway) school places or doctors & dentists. But we're in a very "desirable" area, like you, so property sells for silly money, therefore it's worth the developers' investments. Until they kill the goose that laid the golden egg, and it isn't any more... And all our little interesting independent shops have been priced out of the market, replaced by high-end chain stores & designer cafes. I can choose between hundreds of £100+ "walking" anoraks in our town, but I can't buy a decent screwdriver or a can of WD40 now for love nor money!

The developers are quite sneaky; they always promise a certain amount of "social" housing on the planning applications. But surprise, surprise, when it turns out that some of the land is wildly unsuitable for building on, due to underground watercourses or unstable slopes, guess which bits have to be dropped...? So the housing associations are forced to buy full-price properties for those who can't afford the ever-spiralling private & National Trust rents. None of which are suitable for single people, or the elderly; though plenty of sheltered housing has been approved, it's all high-end private/owner-occupied & we've lost several social schemes.

It's rapidly becoming an upper-middle class ghetto, which is very sad. Our kids, and most of the kids whose roots here go back for generations, can't even begin to hope to afford to buy a home here, and would struggle even to rent. We're not the first & we won't be the last to be Left Behind; it happened to GQ's family, closer to London (or so I suspect) a generation ago, and probably has happened to families all over the world, all through history. And it could be worse... we have a roof over our heads, even if it's somewhat crowded, and enough to eat, and lovely countryside & beaches within easy reach.

It's horrible to see our beautiful countryside eaten up by endless "executive" housing. Yes, people have to live somewhere, and I don't want to preserve our countryside in aspic. But - enough's enough....

Cappella

originally posted by GreyQueen
I know people who are changing their minds several times a day. They're not space cadets, they're reacting to a constant stream of information (and misinformation). I genuinely think some people will be making their minds up in the moment that the pencil is hovering over their ballot paper.

That would be me then :(:(I thought I'd made up my mind to vote 'leave'
Then, today I read this, in a missive from the RSPB
Here's the summary of the report they commissioned.
and a few extracts:

Much of our best and strongest environmental legislation comes from the EU.t

EU environmental legislation has been driven by the single market requiring common rules for products and services –for instance, individual countries cannot distort competition by lowering their environmental standards.

Some of the main contributions of EU legislation to the environment over the years include:

• Achieving a substantial decline in industrial sources of air and water pollution – although there’s further to go, particularly in improving urban air quality and tackling water pollution from farming.

• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting rapid growth in renewable energy.

• A significant and extensive system for protecting wildlife and wild places - most notably through the Birds and Habitats Directives - that has helped to slow the loss of some habitats and species and invest resources in nature conservation. However, wildlife is still under significant pressure across Europe and much more needs to be done.

• Transforming waste management – increasing recycling rates and encouraging the first steps towards a more circular economy.

• Creating a thorough system for reviewing chemicals, and withdrawing many toxic substances from use.

• Building a legislative framework to protect our seas from mounting pressures.


I do not believe UK politicians will do this on their own.

The EU isn't perfect (the CAP still needs reform and the fisheries policies has only recently improved,) but the overall environmental record is a good one. If we leave the EU, we will immediately lose the Birds and Habitats Directives and have nothing to replace the protection they give."

Now I'm back to the beginning again. No idea how I'll vote, again. I just feel so confused and stupid. What is WRONG with me?